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New Day Saturday
Arthur Downgraded To A Tropical Storm; Police: Dad Was Sexting While Son Died; Officer Caught On Tape Punching Woman; Arthur Now a Post-Tropical Storm; Obama to Take Executive Action on Immigration; New Details in Justin Ross Harris Murder Case; Brazil's Top Scorer Won't Play in Finals
Aired July 05, 2014 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about kids! It's about kids!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live here!
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our kids are going to get sick.
REPORTER: You were blocking their way in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not because of them. Because of standing firm, letting the officials know, this is not the right way to handle this.
REPORTER: How many times did he hit her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen 11 on the video. He took more shots than that. I think it was around 15 shots.
REPORTER: Punching?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Punching. Like not just jabs, these are hooks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik in for Christi Paul.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 8:00 on the east coast. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY. A lot of people on the east coast cleaning up. It wasn't a lot of damage, but still damage from the storm. A night after the 4th of July, the hurricane came through, Hurricane Arthur, now a tropical storm. No major problems, though, but still some problems.
KOSIK: Arthur has been downgraded. It left some evidence of its wake. Streets were flooded and homes were submerged in coastal areas running from North Carolina up through New England. BLACKWELL: And many residents are getting their lights back on at the height of the storm. More than 44,000 people lost power in North Carolina alone and it appears that travelers may have narrowly escaped a travel nightmare. Despite those storm disruptions, no major delays are reported at any east coast airport this morning.
KOSIK: But for beachgoers there is some lingering danger, swimmers are warned to watch for deadly rip currents. Alexander Field has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From North Carolina all the way up to the north east, high winds, big waves, drenching rain and now powerful rip tides. Arthur lost force while heading north, but it was enough to leave a mark, 100-mile per hour winds and 35-foot waves were reported at the peak of the storm when Arthur made landfall Thursday night over North Carolina.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are just absolutely getting slammed right now by Arthur. You could see the wind gusts rally pick up here and the rain is just coming down.
FIELD: Though Arthur had more bark than bite, North Carolina took the brunt of the storm with some damaged and thousands left in the dark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emily blew a lot harder than this one. This one we are really fortunate. We didn't have a lot of weather this time.
FIELD: By Friday, the Category 2 hurricane was downgraded, but churned deep into the Atlantic, and today, Nova Scotia is feeling its effects.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was that vacation going so far?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was going pretty good until a few hours ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tough conditions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, not too bad, but you know, you can't -- you're kind of stuck inside. You can't really do anything outside.
FIELD: The first hurricane of the season coinciding with the busiest travel week of the summer busted some holiday plans. Prepared for a wash out, Boston moved up its annual 4th of July celebration. The fireworks went off a day early. In Washington, D.C., the fast moving storm cleared up just in time for a Friday night light show.
But there are big concerns about what's left in Arthur's wake along the eastern seaboard, possible rip currents. The National Weather Service calls the spurts of back-flowing water, the worst danger at the beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though many of the beaches are open and we're still evaluating some of the outer bank beaches, please, listen to lifeguards. Look at the warning flags. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Alexandra Field joins us now from Jones Beach on New York's Long Island. Are you seeing that people are heeding the warnings, despite the beautiful day out there today?
FIELD: Alison and Victor, a lot of people are coming out here early this morning. I think everyone is relieved to sort of see the sun shining and people have been hearing that these rip currents can be a problem. Lifeguards say the conditions at this beach are fairly calm. Rip currents are pretty frequent in the spring and early part of the summer. They happen when you've got a break in the sand bar and common at low tide. We know they're powerful and it's something to think about today and the rest of the summer -- Alison, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Yes, I got to take them seriously. Alexandra Field in Jones Beach for us, thank you.
KOSIK: All right, let's go ahead and bring in meteorologist, Karen Maginnis for the latest on Arthur.
BLACKWELL: Karen, we understand it's been downgraded, but still a tropical storm offers its own threat.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Now we just received right now from the National Hurricane Center, it is post-tropical Arthur. No longer even at tropical storm strength. But as this, the remnants essentially of Arthur move across New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia eventually onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we'll still expect some gusty winds, heavy downpours, because it still has a component to it that is going to produce that.
Winds coming off the coast of Maine, down east Maine, through the gulf of Maine. Some gusty winds and some rainfall, but look at Halifax, 59-mile-per-hour wind reported just this hour. Our other big story, as Arthur exits, was a hurricane, was a tropical storm, now post- Arthur, moving into Canada, are these big storms that have erupted across mid-western United States. And the south western corner of Iowa, right here, there are estimates of three to four inches of rainfall.
And our severe weather threat for today, from Grand Forks and Fargo, this is where we're looking at the potential for some high winds, hail, can't rule out an isolated tornado. As we go into Sunday, an even broader area, from Green Bay to Chicago and down towards Peoria. We'll be watching that, keeping you updated and letting you know what's happening with what used to be Category 2 Arthur -- Alison, Victor.
KOSIK: OK, Karen Maginnis, thanks.
BLACKWELL: Breaking overnight, another flight carrying illegal immigrants from Texas has arrived in Southern California. It's the second one this week. The passengers reportedly boarded three buses to a processing center in the San Isidro District of San Diego. KOSIK: And as tensions rising in the immigration debate, President Obama has weighed in again. Speaking at a 4th of July nationalization ceremony for the members of the military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If we want to keep attracting the best and the brightest from beyond our shores, we're going to have to fix our immigration system, which is broken and pass common-sense immigration reform. We shouldn't be making it harder for the best and brightest to come here, we should be making it easier. That's why I'm going to keep doing, he agrees with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And that was the scene on Independence Day in Murrieta, California, the small city has become a flash point in the national immigration debate. Protesters earlier in the week forced another fleet of buses carrying illegal immigrants to turn back. Our Kyung Lah is in Murrieta. Good morning, Kyung.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Victor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has kept the arriving of any undocumented immigrants to this town under wraps. The concern is security. The anticipation was they may arrive on a holiday and that's why protesters did as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): Celebrating the 4th of July.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop illegal immigration.
LAH: By using the right of assembly to scream at each other. Separated by police, this is the second time pro and anti-immigration forces faced off at the Murrieta Patrol Station. This week's flashpoint for the immigration debate. Earlier in the week, they blocked the entrance to the station. Buses of undocumented immigrants from Central America were forced to turn around.
In Texas, an influx of undocumented migrants, many of them children, crammed facilities. There aren't enough bed, bathrooms or food, a 60,000 to 80,000 children without parents expected to cross illegally this year. To cope the government is putting them on buses and planes to nearby towns and processing them at border patrol centers in smaller towns, like Murrieta.
A second round of buses was anticipated on July 4th. Murrieta protesters came on this Independence Day to say, they're not welcome.
JASON WOOLLEY, MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: We're not going to stand for it. That's just how it is. There's thousands and millions of other people who have done the right way, but for people to just come in here and ask for a free handout, that's my money.
LAH: Migrant rights supporters say on this holiday Murrieta should recall America's own history of its birth and that it's a nation of immigrants.
DANA GLANZER, PRO-MIGRANT PROTESTER: From 1800 up to 1900, now crises happening other places and trying to come through the borders, suddenly it's different because we have divisions based on be race, language and chauvinism.
LAH: While both sides engaged in plenty of free speech, the protest was relatively peaceful. Though several were arrested.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: The buses never did show up, but if they do return, protesters promise they'll be here to greet them -- Alison, Victor.
KOSIK: Kyung Lah, thank you.
BLACKWELL: A father and husband sending explicit sexual text messages to a number of women and one underage girl, while his son died in a hot car. Those are the allegations prosecutors are laying out against Justin Ross Harris. Now details about two life insurance policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thump, thump, thump, and then you hear, a head bouncing on the concrete.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And a California highway patrolman caught on tape punching a woman repeatedly on the side of the road.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Breaking news overnight, this is devastating -- a fire has killed four children in Philadelphia.
KOSIK: Flames tore through eight row houses in a south western Philly neighborhood early this morning. The victims are a 1-month-old baby boy, 4-year-old twin girls and a 4-year-old boy. People desperately tried to rescue them, but the children were trapped. The city's fire commissioner said investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMMISSIONER DERRICK SAWYER, PHILADELPHIA FIRE: This is a tragic, tragic day for the city of Philadelphia. Tragic. We lost four children today and I want everybody to understand that fire is everyone's fight, not just the fire department. It's everyone's fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Four children all four and under. The fire commissioner also said at 42 people have been displaced. KOSIK: Prosecutors are painting a picture of the Georgia man charged with murder in his son's hot car death as an unfaithful husband and wanted a child-free life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: Did you uncover anything what he was doing during that day while the child was out in the car?
DETECTIVE PHIL STODDARD, COBB COUNTY POLICE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: What did you uncover?
STODDARD: He was having up to six different conversations with different women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Justin Harris remains in jail after a judge denied him bond during a probable cause hearing on Thursday.
BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia joins us now and we learned that there were two life insurance policies during that hearing that you've learned more.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've got search warrants that were released yesterday and essentially lays out the narrative that prosecutors laid out in this week's pre-trial hearing. The bond hearing and probable cause hearing. A lot was admitted in the probable cause hearing that won't be admitted in court because they're trying to prove this probable cause. You talk about Harris's finances, we know he had recently taken over his family's finances.
In that time had accrued a $4,000 credit card debt. We also know he had recently developed a business on the side with friends. He wanted some supplemental income, wanted to get more money on the side and then there was this nugget on the life insurance policies.
Here on the last page of one of the search warrants we got, buried deep it says through the investigation, meaning after the death of little Cooper, Harris has made comments to family members regarding a life insurance policy that he has on Cooper and what they need to do in order to file for it.
Now Victor you were saying two life insurance policies, one through $2,000 through Home Depot and then the $25,000 life insurance policy that the family signed in November 2012. Does that prove motive? That's what prosecutors are going to try to lay out. We're waiting for full toxicology report that could speak to motive if little Cooper had anything in his system as well as a full autopsy.
KOSIK: Anything else pointing to Harris and his wife and possible financial problems?
VALENCIA: Leanna Harris was mentioned in this report as having this sort of what can be characterized as a strange reaction saying -- you know, the kid was left in the car when she went to the day care. And the day care worker saying there could be 1,000 different reasons for your kid not showing up to day care today. And she was convinced.
And the conversation they had in the investigation room while prosecutors, or while police were watching but not in the room. Justin Ross Harris saying, I dreaded what the child was going to look like, using the past tense, that came up as well. And Leanna Harris, that reaction, some people are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Could she be charged? There's so much to prove yet.
Friends maintain, Alison and Victor, that this is a good guy. This is a good family. That this family is very religious, very centered in Christianity. There's no way that someone like this, with this character could do something like this. A lot of people looking at the reaction to Leanna Harris in the courtroom or lack of saying she was very emotionless, expressionless. Really how does anyone react normally after a child passes? What is a "normal," quote/unquote reaction?
BLACKWELL: That's a good point because sometimes when we say we expect something. But having not gone through what they're going through, we don't know exactly how we would respond in that way. And the witnesses that were called by the defense, although each one of them said I know a good guy, you know he's a Christian man, he's a church-going man, that they only know him.
VALENCIA: They only know him in that sense.
BLACKWELL: They say we did not know about this. One said is it possible he could have an entire second life and they admitted quite possible.
VALENCIA: That's partly why he was denied bond. Alternative lifestyle he had. This secret life he had online. You know, they lay out the case that this made him a flight risk. Denied bond.
BLACKWELL: The financial issues, although the detective on the stand, Stoddard said they had financial issues, when pressed by the defense attorney, he asked, what's the evidence there? Was there checkbook overdrawn? Did you see that they had any huge debt, and he wasn't able at least in that moment, to offer any evidence of that.
VALENCIA: We did see Stoddard for a moment kind of back-track, saying there wasn't any direct evidence that linked Ross Harris to those searches, even on his work computer. A lot laid out.
BLACKWELL: And this was probable cause, we'll see what happens during the trial. Nick Valencia, thank you so much. We'll have more analysis on this as we go throughout the morning so stay with us on that.
KOSIK: A driver captures an officer punching a woman on the side of the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not just jabs. These are hooks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: More on this disturbing video and what the California Highway Patrol is saying about it this morning.
BLACKWELL: Joran Vander Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of the Alabama teenager, Natalee Holloway, just got married behind bars. That's not all that happened.
Before we get to that, though, do you think that, I mean you had too much stuff stashed away in your house?
KOSIK: Sometimes.
BLACKWELL: Sometimes.
KOSIK: Sort of clear it out from time to time, but you isn't seen nothing yet. Today's travel insider takes us inside Luna Park.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK SKIRMEN: Hi, I'm Mark Skirmen.
MARK MORAN: And I'm Mark Moran.
SKIRMEN: And we have a book series where we travel around the country to seek out weird places. Today, we're in Luna Park.
MORAN: The mad genius behind it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a dilapidated hunting cabin. It was kind of shabby, but it was on a beautiful piece of property. And as soon as I laid eyes on the house, I knew that this would be the place I would spend the rest of my life. Twenty five years later, this is what happened. I have so much stuff, and so many raw materials, bread tabs, wooden yard sticks, license plates, bowling balls, musical instruments, machinery from the 19th Century.
Old skeletons, yes. This is the ballroom which serves as a ding hall. Here we have what looks like a bookshelf, but in reality this is my bed. This is my luxurious bathroom. This was a five-year project and there are nearly one million broken shards in the walls.
SKIRMEN: You counted the shards?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I counted every single one. This is actually where I spend most of my time in my work shop. All the objects on the house inside and out, all of that is produced here on the premises.
SKIRMEN: Farewell from Luna Park.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: It's 22 minutes after the hour this morning and there are lots of questions about an alarming beating that was caught on tape.
KOSIK: We're going to show it to you now. We want to warn you, it's very shocking. Now you can see a woman getting hit in the face over and over and over again by a California Highway Patrol officer. He is now on administrative leave and an investigation is under way. CNN's Sara Sidner is in Los Angeles with details -- Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alison, the witness says he was in very heavy traffic, basically at a standstill when all this happened right in front of him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): Video from a California freeway shot by a driver stunned by what he was seeing unfold. A woman being punched over and over and over again by a California Highway patrolman.
DAVID DIAZ, EYEWITNESS: You see it, heard it, it was like, thump, thump, thump, and then you see her head bouncing, bam, bam, on the concrete.
SIDNER (on camera): How many times did he hit her?
DIAZ: I've seen 11 on the video. He took more shots that than, I think around 15 shots, to her head.
SIDNER: Punching?
DIAZ: Punching. This is not just jabs. These are hooks. Those are lights out punches. Those aren't like taps.
SIDNER (voice-over): The highway patrol report says the woman posed a danger to herself and other drivers because she was walking within traffic lanes at times and when she was asked to stop, she continued ignoring the officer's command and ultimately she becomes physically combative, it says.
ASSISTANT CHIEF CHRIS O'QUINN, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: The tape only shows a small part of what transpired. There were events that led up to this, until all that's collected and put into perspective, we aren't going to be able to make a determination.
SIDNER: The eyewitness who goes by the name David Diaz, says he saw exactly what led up to it, before he started recording.
DIAZ: When you see the video, the first thing you hear is me laughing. The reason why is, before we got the video starting, they were playing, like a ring around the rosy behind that red truck. It's a grown man and grown women running around the truck. Kind of like a Benny Hill moment, right?
SIDNER (on camera): She's avoiding him?
DIAZ: She's avoiding him. Almost like when we laugh when someone runs on the baseball field.
SIDNER (voice-over): He says she did eventually started walking towards the officer, and that is when the takedown began.
DIAZ: He grabs her. Resisting, in terms of natural reaction, and then he then grabs her, throws her to the floor and then gets on top of her, which then you would think, OK, he's going to wrap her up, call it another day in Los Angeles. No. This wasn't the case.
SIDNER: The CHP says the woman who carried no ID was taken to the hospital for a physical and mental evaluation.
O'QUINN: The report indicated that the individual was not injured and the officer didn't notice any injuries on the individual.
SIDNER: Diaz has a hard time believing that, after seeing and hearing this --
DIAZ: She didn't put up restraint. She did what anyone else would do when getting pounded, to go like this, to go like this. And now saying, restrained? Excuse. Given too many excuses. No more rationalizing this. We need to stop this. That's why I posted the video.
O'QUINN: We're going to make a determination as to what transpired in this situation, and we will do the right thing.
SIDNER: The officer involved has been put on administrative duty while the case is investigated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Witness Diaz says he has not spoken with anyone from the California Highway Patrol and if they call him, he will discuss what he saw with them -- Alison, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Sara Sidner, thank you so much.
KOSIK: There will be another side that comes out. You point to a good question, who's the other guy in the video?
BLACKWELL: The guy in the flagged shirt, is he a plains clothes officer? We'll find out.
KOSIK: All right, left alone to die in a hot car while his father was inside his workplace sexting.
BLACKWELL: Those are some of the long list of accusations against Justin Ross Harris and the death of his 22-month-old son.
KOSIK: And the pregnant wife of a U.S. Marine is missing this morning as a search is under way to find her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Bottom of the hour, welcome back, I'm Alison Kosik in for Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 8:30 here on the East Coast. Let's talk about five things we know that you need to know for your new day -- sorry about that.
Number one: a mountain of flames in Afghanistan this morning, 400 trucks carrying fuel and oil were set on fire in Kabul. While the reason for the fires is still under investigation, the Taliban claims their forces attacked a parking depot used by trucks supplying NATO.
KOSIK: Number two: A U.S. Marine's pregnant wife is missing. 19- year-old Erin Corwin was last seen leaving 29 Palms Marine Base in California a week ago today. She was on her way to Joshua Tree National Park at the time. Her car has since been found. And deputies are not ruling out foul play. Her mother flew out to California to help in the search for her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORE HEAVILIN, MOTHER OF MISSING WOMAN: I mean my gut was just tore up. Just tore up. And it's just like you feel like you're walking in a nightmare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Number three now, convicted murder Joran Van Der Sloot is now a married man. And he's about to be a father. Van Der Sloot married a Peruvian woman Friday at the Lima Prison where he is serving his 28-year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores. He's also, as I'm sure you'll remember, the prime suspect in the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway. His wife is due to give birth in September.
KOSIK: Number four: Sirius XM radio has fired shock jock Anthony Cumia. Cumia was one-half of the popular team, Opie and Anthony. The satellite radio network says it made the decision to let him go following a series of racially charged tweets that Cumia sent out earlier in the week. Cumia claims he was fired for doing something that wasn't on the air and wasn't illegal. In a statement, Sirius said his postings were abhorrent and his behavior is inconsistent with what Sirius represents.
BLACKWELL: Number five now: Hurricane Arthur weakened overnight to a tropical storm. And within the last 30 minutes it weakened even more to become a post tropical storm, sustained winds now just 65 miles per hour. About 40,000 people in North Carolina lost power. Most of them have their lights back on this morning. And communities up and down the East Coast saw whipping winds and really rough rains, flooded streets as well.
Let's go to meteorologist Karen Maginnis here with where the storm or the post tropical system is now. Who is being threatened by this?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it looks like much of New England. And even that's not going to last all day. Much of what is left of what used to be Category 2 Hurricane Arthur is pushing into New Brunswick, also into Nova Scotia. Even across parts of Maine, we're expecting some gusty winds, some pretty heavy downpours. Winds situated with this now at 65 miles an hour. And will continue to weaken. And pull away from the United States.
Back to you guys.
KOSIK: From President Obama vowing to take executive action to a small town in California taking a stand of its own --
BLACKWELL: This showdown over America's immigration crisis, it's heating up and we're seeing it happen in a really big way. This week protesters against this influx of Central American immigrants coming to the U.S. faced off with counter protesters in Murrieta, California.
KOSIK: Some demonstrators shouted "go back home" and successfully forced three buses carrying migrants to leave Murrieta. Let's talk about this issue with CNN political commentators Maria Cardona and Ben Ferguson.
Maria let me start with you, some of those protesters they blame President Obama for this problem when he's blaming, when he's blaming House Republicans for failing to take action. Is it fair to blame the President when he's tried to press the House to take up a senate- passed bill on immigration?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, absolutely it's not fair, Alison and it's completely wrong-headed of these protesters to do so. In fact, this President has tried to press this Congress for many years to pass real comprehensive immigration reform and I think the lack of a real policy of a set policy has led to some of these rumors that has led to the migration that we're now seeing on the border.
And in addition to that, not only has this president pressed this Congress and given them the time and the space to do something, the Congress has up until now said that they do want to act. Speaker Boehner says that he does want to act. But ultimately, what he told the President not even a week ago is that he is actually not going to bring any legislation to the floor. Unfortunately the congress has completely abdicated their responsibility because they're being led by the anti-immigrant extremist factions in their own party. And it's just that.
KOSIK: Ben, go ahead. Go ahead -- I hear you laughing.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think it's funny how selective the time memory is of Democrats, they forget that Obama when he was elected president said he was going to have immigration reform. He had control of the House and the Senate, Democrats could do anything they wanted to including Obama care, which they passed. Because they controlled both, they had the House and the Senate.
They chose not to pass immigration reform for two years when they did not even have to negotiate with Republicans. So the idea that this is not a big political argument in a mid-term election year, trying to get one side fired up against the other side, and to act like the President is sitting there somehow waiting to do something, is unrealistic. First of all, we have enforced the laws on the book. And the other issue is this. You have a major problem with a border security. If you're not willing to deal with border security, what's the point of passing law if people are still going to be able to come across the border?
The White House does have power. What they should be doing is working with ambassadors and they should be working with the PR campaign to tell people in these countries that they're coming from, if you come here, you will be sent home immediately. Where is that PR campaign because these people are at risk and I do feel sorry for them.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: They are doing that.
FERGUSON: They're not doing it well enough.
CARDONA: They are doing that, Ben. And actually Ben is right on this that we are working with our ambassadors, we need to do more of that. We are working on a PR campaign. We need to do more of that. But where Ben is absolutely wrong is when he said -- and I think this actually indicates where their party is on this -- when he blames the President for not doing this in the first two years.
First of all, he was dealing with trying to rescue this economy from you know, eight years of Republican policies that put us almost in --
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: Now, you're going to blame George Bush for the problem.
CARDONA: And secondly when Ben says that Democrats could have done this on their own, he is actually underscoring the complete abdication from their own party. This is not a democratic problem, Ben. This is a national American problem that we need to solve together. Where are the Republicans on this? Republicans in the senate did absolutely the right thing, Republicans in the House are being led by the anti- extremists in their party like Congressman Steve King, who absolutely wants to put up fences at the border and make sure that no one comes in, no one comes out and that's just not, that's just not realistic.
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: Maria, if 15 to 20 million people have come across the border illegally, I think it's hysterical that you think that a fence is not a good idea. We have a fence around the White House, if a fence doesn't work, then why is there one around the White House? Why is it that most people have one in their back yards to keep their pets in and other people out of their yards? Fences have worked in this country, and even been looked at as a positive, as a luxury to add.
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: Let me finish this. The fact is that you guys don't want to secure the border; you want to give amnesty, and a lot of Americans have rejected that.
CARDONA: No, that's not right Ben.
FERGUSON: That's what you said. Absolutely.
CARDONA: You need to get your facts straight. The border is actually more secure today than it ever has been.
FERGUSON: The people living across the border will disagree with you.
CARDONA: Listen to this. Listen to this. Under Bush there was a growth of the undocumented population of three to four million people. Under President Obama, the growth in the undocumented population was net negative. So he has done more to secure the border than any other Republican president in recent history. So let's look at the facts.
FERGUSON: And Maria --
CARDONA: This is where the Republicans are just wrong-headed.
BLACKWELL: Let me get in --
CARDONA: You don't understand that this needs to be a bipartisan solution. They need to sit down with the President and Democrats and get this done.
BLACKWELL: Ben, I got a question, after the election in 2008, John McCain got a smaller percentage of the Latino vote than George Bush got. In 2012, Mitt Romney got a smaller percentage than John McCain got. Moving into 2016, and after every election, Republicans then said, well, we got to do something about immigration. There was a consensus, that if something can get done, it's immigration.
Moving toward 2016, if John Boehner says we're not going to do it and it doesn't get done, doesn't that put whomever will be the Republican nominee at an even greater disadvantage to take the White House?
FERGUSON: No.
BLACKWELL: Why not?
FERGUSON: Because I think people are upset with the fact, they realize that this has become a political game and not about a security issue and not about truly securing our borders. As long as we don't fix the issue, and we already have laws on the books that we should be enforcing on the border.
Again this White House, and this President, they've done a better job when it comes to PR of getting kids fit, with Michelle Obama's campaign than they've ever done telling people in these other countries that if you come to America, we are going to send you home. This is a problem that I think Democrats are enjoying because they think they can use it politically to their advantage.
And if they really wanted to deal with this issue, they would actually be out there and start enforcing the border, protecting the border and more importantly, the President has the biggest microphone in all of the world. He can actually go on TV and make a direct appeal, saying let me be clear, if you're coming from, name the countries, you will be sent home and get rid of this stigma, that if you get here, you get to stay.
CARDONA: He did that Ben. He did that.
FERGUSON: He has not done that Maria.
BLACKWELL: He actually did that at the ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos.
CARDONA: Thank you. Absolutely.
FERGUSON: He has not done it expressed it to the world. There's a difference.
CARDONA: Yes, he is. And he will continue to do that. And secondly --
BLACKWELL: We got --
CARDONA: Let's make something very clear, Republicans can say good- bye to the White House in 2016 if they don't do something about this before then.
BLACKWELL: We've got to wrap it up right there. Maria Cardona, Ben Ferguson, thank you very much. Always a lively conversation when we have you on.
FERGUSON: Good to see you.
CARDONA: Thank you.
KOSIK: That was very interesting.
BLACKWELL: All right. So in his weekly address yesterday, President Obama took a moment to celebrate the recent success of the U.S. men's soccer team at the World Cup.
KOSIK: He also had some fun with the White House petition calling for Tim Howard, the team's superstar goalie, to become the next U.S. Secretary of Defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to begin today by saying a special word to the U.S. men's soccer team who represented America so well the past few weeks. We are so proud of you. You got a lot of new believers.
And I know there's actually a petition on the White House Web site to make Tim Howard the next Secretary of Defense. Chuck Hagel has the spot right now, but if there is a vacancy, I promise to think about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: 16 blocks from Tim Howard. You would think the celebrations would be through the roof in Brazil this morning, right? I mean for the most part they are.
KOSIK: I'm sure they are. Sure.
Brazil beat Colombia in their World Cup match. But during the match, something went terribly wrong. What this could mean for the host country.
BLACKWELL: Before we head to break, a couple of things you can do to help impact the world of our veterans this Independence Day weekend.
KOSIK: Donate your frequent flyer miles. There are programs that will use your miles to bring family members to the bedside of veterans recovering in the hospital. Other programs provide free rides for veterans so they can get to and from doctor's appointments.
BLACKWELL: You can also send care packages, build homes and help with PTSD counseling. We have a whole list of organizations to point you in the right direction. Just head to CNN.com/impact.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: CNN is learning some new details about murder suspect Ross Harris and his actions on the time and around the time that his 22- month-old son, Cooper, was left to die in the back seat of his SUV. Now according to warrants we've obtained, the father made comments to family members regarding a $27,000 in the life insurance policies -- two policies he had on this young boy.
KOSIK: This comes on the heels of the hearing where prosecutors describe the 33-year-old as an unfaithful husband, who was in financial trouble. They even allege he lived a double life and spent his day sexting with a half dozen women one under the age of 17 at one point while his son was dying.
I want you to hear some of the testimony that led a Georgia judge to deny his bail this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He visited several sites and he sub-read it -- it was people who die. Once again, it may not be the perfect but it's like people who die and it shows video of people dying. And it's in all sorts of ways from suicides to Iraq, executions. He was having up to six different conversations with different women. It appeared from the messages from Kick mostly which is a messaging service. The most common term would be sexting.
Evidence is showing us right now that he's got this whole second life that he's living with alternate personalities and alternate personas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Defense attorney BJ Bernstein joins us now with more. You know, you heard all this stuff come out of this hearing. I mean one -- one thing after another; one jaw-dropping detail after another. As a defense attorney, how do you think his defense is going to start preparing his case?
B.J. BERNSTEIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, we've got to get the whole case. You know, this was just a preliminary hearing where the prosecutor is putting forward facts to establish probable cause -- it's not the entire case. And in Georgia, especially the cruelty to children statute, whether it's first-degree or second-degree, has a lot of checkmarks that have to be made. And that's where the defense attorney was arguing at the preliminary hearing.
That said, even 26 years of practicing law and doing criminal work, there's some jaw-dropping salacious facts here that obviously is why everybody is talking about this case in outrage. And just a reminder that Casey Anthony was acquitted, George Zimmerman was acquitted; this, clearly, Justin Harris is on the lips ever everyone and will be for a while. We don't know what's going to happen.
BLACKWELL: We just had the anniversary of O.J. Simpson. A lot of these cases where is people say it's a done deal and at the end of the day sometimes it doesn't reach the threshold of beyond a reasonable doubt.
Let me ask you about your interesting theory about the insurance policies and why he had some questions about getting that money.
BERNSTEIN: Well listening carefully to what's been in the news about it, it was during a phone call and it sounds like it's almost like a jail-recorded call. And a lot of people forget, when you're in jail, they record those calls and prosecutors can listen to them or a room while they were waiting for an interview, that area could be miked. That life insurance money and saying you can get it, these people need an attorney. They hired an attorney. This is getting even bigger. That's going to require funds and trying to get your hands on money quickly, although I don't think that they're going to ever be able to prove that you would have killed your child for $27,000.
BLACKWELL: They need the money.
BERNSTEIN: They need the money for lawyers.
KOSIK: Will that conversation be admissible in the trial if it goes to trial in.
BERNSTEIN: They're going to have fights about it. Everything you've heard at a preliminary hearing, it's a wide-open net. The rules of evidence that we typically know, like a hearsay objection isn't applicable because the only thing we heard is hearsay.
One witness really testified, that's the police officer saying this person said this. This day care worker reported this. So if they're wrong about it, or he paraphrased it the wrong way while at trial, those actual people, the statements were made to, will have to come in and testify.
BLACKWELL: Help us understand the charges because what they laid out on Wednesday was -- Thursday actually -- was maybe leading towards premeditated murder. That for weeks he researched you know how an animal dies in a car or how to survive in prison. Why not then charge him initially with premeditated murder?
BERNSTEIN: Because you've got to get through -- they're still investigating this case, it was actually smart on behalf of the prosecutors and I know all of these guys. I've dealt with them over the years. And remember it started off as felony murder, with the underlying felony first-degree cruelty which requires malicious intent. It was dropped down to second-degree, which is criminal negligence, that reckless conduct which when people heard that said oh, that may work.
Now when we heard the hearing, I'm hearing signals that by the time you go to trial that the indictment may have more. And that's very typical. Remember, when you are arrested, the arrest warrant is what catches you in jail, and makes you either stay in jail or be on bond. The actual document that puts you in the line of fire before a jury is an indictment. Grand jurors will meet and the prosecutors will present it and I think they were hinting potentially malice murder, felony murder with cruelty in first-degree, felony murder with the second-degree are certainly still on the table.
KOSIK: What about a plea deal, the likelihood?
BERNSTEIN: It's too early to say. But that's always a possibility in every case. Really the percentages of the number of cases of people arrested that go to trial -- it drops down.
And there are, you know, troubling things that were asked that make you worry about the psychological stability of this particular defendant. And it may be that his lawyers have to get a psychiatric examination and find out what's going on. So there's a lot more here, I know we're ready to judge and even I had pause when I heard what happened. But I also know, you know as seasoned journalists that when you get into a courtroom, it may come out differently.
BLACKWELL: Absolutely. And all we heard was the state's case, they had the burden as they will under trial, but they had the burden to keep him in jail on that probable cause.
B.J. Bernstein, good to have you back.
BERNSTEIN: Good to see you.
BLACKWELL: Likewise.
KOSIK: Thank you.
BERNSTEIN: Take care.
BLACKWELL: Some tough news for Brazil fans this morning. Bleacher report's Laura Rutledge has the news. LAURA RUTLEDGE, CNN BLEACHER REPORT: It's the worst-case scenario for
a World Cup favorite. I've got all the latest after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Bad news, bad news for Brazil's World Cup hopes, the host nation's top scorer will miss the rest of the tournament.
KOSIK: Neymar fracturing a bone in his spine during yesterday's game, Laura Rutledge has more in today's Bleacher Report. Say it isn't so.
RUTLEDGE: You know it seemed like it was going to be a big party for Brazil, but then this Neymar thing has kind of put a big dampener on their spirits. So you'll be interested to see what happens.
They did knock off Colombia 2-1 in the quarterfinals. But the celebration, of course, turned bittersweet. Neymar is a big blow for Brazil. Losing him, he's their heart and soul. He was kneed in the back as the match was winding down and you knew it wasn't going to be pretty by the way he was writhing in pain. He was immediately stretchered off the pitch and taken to the hospital.
Brazil's semifinal opponent, Germany, they're probably licking their chops at the idea they won't have to deal with Neymar in their quest to win the World Cup. Of course, they're a favorite as well. Now we're all left wondering, who will step up in Neymar's place? He has four goals and one assist in the tournament.
We have an intriguing match-up in the women's Wimbledon final today, Eugenie Bouchard faces Petra Kvitova and it will be 20-year-old Bouchard's first ever grand slam final. Kvitova has won the tournament once before in 2011 and only seems super comfortable on the Wimbledon grass, but Bouchard is coming into her own. She'll be hard to stop.
And the super bowl of bicycle racing gets under way today. This year the Tour de France will actually start in England. It's not unusual for this to happen. It passes through neighboring countries all the time. Two years ago the tour began in Belgium. The 21-stage race finishes in Paris on July 27th. And actually Prince William and his wife, Kate -- they have a big part in this and Kate cut the ribbon to start the race today, of course, looking fabulous as usual.
BLACKWELL: Very nice. But you know, this Neymar thing, it sounds terribly painful and it looked bad. I mean fracture the bone in his spine.
RUTLEDGE: You could tell by the way that they were struggling to get him on that stretcher that it wasn't going to be good.
BLACKWELL: Every move was delicate.
RUTLEDGE: Yes. Sad for him.
BLACKWELL: Laura Rutledge -- thank you.
KOSIK: Ok, Laura Rutledge -- thank you.
RUTLEDGE: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right, quick break. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: So pretty. This is my fireworks, because I slept through it all.
BLACKWELL: I was asleep, too, although I was up for maybe 15 minutes when they woke me up.
KOSIK: You thought they were gunshots?
BLACKWELL: Yes, I thought they were gunshots, I really did. I thought someone was shooting, you know. I grew up in the inner city, sometimes they're popping outside the window.
KOSIK: Oh my God.
BLACKWELL: But we're all good.
KOSIK: Well if you didn't get to see any of it like us, now you are up to speed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won, Nathan's famous hotdog and buns, the once and future champion of the world -- Joey Chestnut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: They call him Jaws, Joey Chestnut, he is the Coney Island hotdog-eating champ once again. Scarfed down 61 dogs and the buns -- don't forget the buns, those are the filling part. Ten minutes got it done.
KOSIK: Yes, but I've got the crowd pleaser for you, he got down on one knee and proposed, his girlfriend of three years said yes. This was before though, the hotdog eating began.
BLACKWELL: Yes, before the contest. Congratulations to both of you.
KOSIK: Maybe she changed her mind afterwards though.
BLACKWELL: The next hour starts right now.
